


the lighthouse in the dark

by skai_heda



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: ;), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Space, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Humor, IN SPACE!, Idiots in Love, Kree (Marvel), Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Past Relationship(s), References to PTSD, Unresolved Sexual Tension, fake bed sharing to avoid scary kree, friends to enemies to its complicated to lovers, no beta i will simply perish, oranges!!, that may be resolved ahahaha, why isnt that a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25160446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skai_heda/pseuds/skai_heda
Summary: missions are never easy. put a troubled superhero and a cynical pilot on the team, and it gets even harder.(and no, it's not just about them. the real hard part? staying alive.)
Relationships: Deke Shaw/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 21
Kudos: 20
Collections: fill the daisy/deke tag with actual content 2020





	the lighthouse in the dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anakinno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakinno/gifts), [Sanctuaria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctuaria/gifts).



> to anakinno and sanctuaria—haven't known y'all super long but since we agreed to be best friends i figured this would be a nice way to start
> 
> also in terms of the time it takes to get from one planet to another—consider a time period where space travel has been heavily improved on and advanced
> 
> daisy and deke have been aged down by a couple of years
> 
> jiaying was never necessarily evil here
> 
> the final conclusion with HIVE played out pretty much the same, except ward was HIVE for a lot longer, and he never betrayed the original team
> 
> ight we lost yall we are not getting deke and daisy but daisy and sousa is pretty lit so im okay with it

Space was unbearably lonely, empty in a way that ate away at the soul of the woman with dark hair. Even the stars had dimmed to her after months of being surrounded in darkness. 

She sat on her bed, hunched over with her elbows on her knees and her fingers laced together. There were several rose-gold badges on the wall opposite her, and another in the woman's hands. 

She looked as though she might cry, strike something in anger or distress. Her fingers had whitened with the tightness of her grip on the newest badge, but the rest of her did not move. After moments of careful, loaded silence, she finally found a piece of double-sided tape and attached the badge to the wall, next to all the others.

She observed them for a long time, all the names and years carved into the shining metal. Her eyes shone, but she did not cry. There was not much she could do beyond reading the names and resuming her duties.

She was a warrior, and this was how warriors grieved.

* * *

**three years later**

* * *

_"Piss off,_ Virgil," Deke Shaw says, his knuckles white on the joystick. "It's _just_ the Primary. Won't be a problem."

"Got _any_ idea how many ships crash in the Primary?" Tess Williams asks. She swears fluently as Deke swerves the ship to narrowly avoid a building-sized asteroid. "And half of those ships have skilled pilots. And you're not even—"

 _"Thank you,_ Tessie," Deke says loudly, interrupting her. "Your opinion is valued, even though it's wrong."

Tess takes one hand off of her seatbelt to raise her middle finger.

 _"Attention, Lighthouse Cruiser,"_ a female voice says over the intercom. Deke can't help but note how nice her voice is. _"This is Zephyr One. Permission to board?"  
_

Virgil widens his eyes. "What's a SHIELD ship doing all the way out here?"

"We're technically SHIELD, too," Tess says.

"Uh, permission granted, but may I ask why?" Deke says. He doesn't get an answer.

A screen on his dashboard flashes blue. _Airlock 11b Opened,_ it says. After a minute, the screen notifies that the airlock has been closed. Deke leaps out of his seat to face the newcomer. She's wearing a hood that falls over her face, the SHIELD eagle symbol on the sleeve of her jacket. "And who are you?"

"Daisy Johnson," the woman says, lowering her hood to reveal her face. Deke knows Daisy Johnson, just the way everyone else does. Great hero of the HIVE mutiny, accomplished SHIELD warrior and leader. But besides that, he's met her before, six years ago when her ship had docked on a remote Lighthouse port on her way to the farthest reach of the solar system to the moon Maveth on her way to fight the first battle of the HIVE mutiny. She had been cynical yet sweet, with a riotous sense of humor and warm brown eyes. A far cry from the typical brooding hero type, if Deke was being honest. He'd never had more than two conversations with her, but she was easy to remember. After all, not everyone had a chance to meet _the_ Daisy Johnson.

Now, however, there's no hint of a smile on her face, which has turned angular over time. Streaks of blonde and light brown hair are present in her dark waves, and her eyes are cold and unfeeling. 

"Gonna need to see some ship identification," she says softly, putting her hands on her hips.

"Sure," Deke mutters, walking over to the cabinet where he keeps all the ship and crew papers. "Why's that?"

Daisy sighs. "Been some activity of illegal ships crossing into the Primary. Hard to keep track of everything in an asteroid belt, so SHIELD sent out surveillance ships to intercept and verify every spaceship that passes through here."

"And you managed to dock with our ship in the middle of the Primary?" Tess asks. 

"Not exactly the middle," Virgil cuts in, who is now at the controls. We're out of the belt, Deke."

"Where are you guys headed?" Daisy asks, taking the stack of papers Deke hands her. 

"Lighthouse Port out near Uranus," Deke tells her. "Orbiting the moon Oberon. We're just delivering medical supplies."

Daisy frowns. "Uh—all of the ports past Jupiter have been closed. This whole system's about to go into lockdown. It's a pretty recent development, so I understand why you guys wouldn't know."

"Why is the system going into lockdown?" he asks, then lowers his voice so that Tess and Virgil don't hear it over their own conversation. "Is it because of the Kree threat?"

She narrows her eyes at him. "How would you know about that?"

Deke grins at her, but she doesn't return it. "I have my connections."

"Right," she mutters. "Well, you're lucky that isn't strictly classified, or else I'd have to take you into custody." Daisy steps back. "I suggest the three of you turn this ship around and head back to Earth. I know it's not fun to go through the Primary again, but it's necessary."

"Tess's home is on a Jupiter station," Deke says. "We were planning on dropping her off there on our way back to Earth."

"Sure, whatever," Daisy sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Don't try and go past Jupiter. There's a blockade about a third of the way in between Jupiter and Saturn, and they have orders to shoot on sight."

"As if they'd ever catch this ship," Deke mumbles with a snort. "We will be on our way, Agent Johnson."

She's looking at him with an odd expression, still stationary. "Wait," he hears her say as he goes to sit in the pilots chair. He turns. "On second thought," says Daisy. "I'd like you to come with me."

* * *

Deke watches the Lighthouse cruiser move on towards Jupiter through one of the Zephyr's many viewing ports. 

"You're sure they can make it through the Primary safely?" Daisy asks. "The asteroid belt in between Mars and Jupiter is one of the most dangerous ones."

"Virgil hasn't done it as much as I have, but he's going to be alright. I trained him, after all," Deke says, a corner of his mouth twitching up. Daisy sighs inwardly, wondering whether she's going to regret her decision. But she's heard of Deke Shaw—one of the most gifted pilots in the system. He could be exactly what SHIELD needs to turn the war around. People like him, she means. "You gonna explain why I'm here?"

"You've been trained as an official Lighthouse pilot, right?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Good. So you'll know SHIELD protocol."

Deke smiles at her again. "Of course." Daisy supposes that he is attractive, his blue eyes set off wonderfully by his grey jacket. 

She banishes the thought. "SHIELD is leading a coordinated infiltration of Lighthouse 9-1," she explains. "We're in need of a pilot for that mission, and I think you should be on the team."

"A Lighthouse station?" he asks in disbelief. "Why there?"

She swallows. "The Kree took the station. They've occupied it for—"

"Two and a half years," he finishes with her. "It's that one station by Saturn with a lot less supply missions than normal, isn't it? We were always told that they were getting their supplies..."

"Nobody has been in or out of that station since the Kree took it," Daisy explains. "Not even the Kree. SHIELD has set up a blockade around the station should the Kree ever attempt to get somewhere else. It's been a stalemate for way too long, and SHIELD has finally decided to send a team in to take it down from the inside."

Deke looks up at her, trapping her in his gaze. "I know about every other human encounter with the Kree, Agent Johnson. This is a suicide mission."

"Suicide will be worth it if we liberate the station and get the Kree out of here," she says. "Lives are at stake."

"Lives are always at stake," Deke replies sharply. "You're asking me to leave my life to go on a mission that I almost certainly won't walk away from? Sounds like bullshit to me."

She looks away. "You don't have anything to lose. I saw your file, Deke. You have no surviving family. Your closest friends died during the HIVE mutiny. Tess and Virgil are your recruits, but they aren't as close to you as others used to be."

Deke frowns. "You don't know that. And you don't know how it feels."

She laughs softly, but there's no humor behind it. "I can figure you out pretty easily. I was a spy once. And—I _do_ understand what it's like to lose everything."

His full bottom lip trembles slightly as he glances away from her, and she exhales softly. "I don't want anything to do with any SHIELD war. Not after HIVE. I've lost enough to interplanetary war." At this moment, Daisy catches sight of a long scar disappearing into the collar of his jacket. Everything fits together. Pieces solving a puzzle.

"We can't contain them forever," she says softly. "If we don't do this, everyone will lose everything else."

"Find yourself another pilot."

She frowns. "You're smart. And you're not being honest with me. You've had a run-in with Kree before."

Daisy watches him pause, his scar standing out against his pale skin. "What do you know?"

"Lighthouse 9-1 wasn't the only Lighthouse station to be occupied by the Kree at some point," she says quietly. "Lighthouse 6-4 was occupied for 14 years—and it was a whole lot worse than what Lighthouse 9-1 is going through right now. I know they killed your mother, and isolated you from your father. You lived years and years believing that he was dead, and you found him mere months before he was killed by HIVE. You have a chance to bring them to justice, Deke. You can avenge your lost family—and probably a bunch of other people." Daisy's not overly talented at the whole pep-talk thing, but she thinks for a moment that it might've worked.

He runs a hand through his soft-looking hair before looking back at her. "When you say take down—"

"It means exactly what you think and hope it means, Shaw," she says. "There will be blood."

He blinks, glaring at his shoes. He murmurs something in Russian, and _goddamn_ if that isn't one of the most attractive things she's ever heard. "Fine," he says. "I'm in."

* * *

Deke figures that this has to be one of the worst choices he's ever made. But the farther he's pulled into this SHIELD business, the more he realizes that he really is the best candidate for it. He can't deny that he's a good pilot—and that he has exceptional survival instincts. Sure, some of his methods are a little unorthodox and frankly, kind of selfish, but he gets his job done.

Plus, everyone on the infiltration team either has some personal stake in this, or is just one of the most gifted people in their field. One would think that in spy business and whatnot, having a personal motivation was bound to get you killed. But it looks like SHIELD is relying on a vehement need for justice and revenge to get the job done. Elena, or Yo-Yo, as everyone called her, had lost her arms in a Kree attack. Her prosthetic arms were very much like real arms, however, so the loss was not as terrible as it was before. Mack's the best mechanic in the system and the actual leader of the team. Fitz-Simmons is a couple (literally) of extremely smart scientists. Simmons serves as the crew doctor. Melinda May is also a great pilot, and a total prodigy in combat. It makes Deke feel a little out of place, not really knowing much about their process other than basic SHIELD protocol. 

The way they speak and move makes him feel like there's also some other unspoken presence of leadership there, other than Mack and the authoritative attitude Daisy has that comes with _years and years_ of experience. Some other person, either dead or alive, guiding every decision they make.

"Are you—oh, come on. Are you paying attention?" Fitz asks him, and Deke is yanked out of his moment of consideration. 

"Yes, _grandpa,"_ he mutters. He gets to his feet, reviewing the course set for the Zephyr. It's about a three month's trip to Lighthouse 9-1 from where they are now, just around the far end of Neptune. Deke had designed the course himself, minimizing fuel consumption just in case they needed it for a quick getaway. It had extended the time, but not to the point of jeopardizing the mission. "We still haven't figured out how to cloak the Zephyr as it reaches 9-1—that's what you were saying."

Fitz rolls his eyes, but he doesn't look that annoyed. "Right, so—"

"Wait," Deke says. "I have an idea." He turns to the rest of the team. "We're approaching Saturn in a month and a half. We can stop at a Lighthouse station and take a Lighthouse cruiser. We'll be able to pass the SHIELD blockade beyond Jupiter because we're on the Zephyr now. Docking a Lighthouse cruiser with a Lighthouse station will be less suspicious to the Kree than an oncoming SHIELD vessel."

"That's a great idea, Deke," Simmons says, beaming at him. Deke tries and fails to hide his smile. There's something about Simmons that reminds him of his own mother—normally, anything that reminded Deke of his mom made him want to punch a wall or cry or both, but he simply didn't feel that with her. Her presence itself was achingly comfortable, and even Fitz's, in a way. Deke didn't mind how grouchy Fitz seemed to be, except when he was around Simmons. Deke didn't mind that May chose to express her feelings by a) not expressing them or b) punching someone. May was also a motherly figure, somehow. Not exactly as kind or encouraging as Simmons, but a steady, stoic being. Deke also doesn't mind that Mack gets frustrated with him sometimes, his inability to understand the unspoken rules and regulations of not only SHIELD, but their tightly woven group as well. And Deke really likes Elena, who isn't the loudest person ever, but she's smart and has the best sense of humor out of anyone on the ship.

The only mystery to him is Daisy. Obviously burdened by loss, but weren't they all? He wonders whether it's because she takes the responsibility for every loss, regardless of whether she was in any position of leadership or not. She loves the others fiercely, that much he knows—but she's constantly, subtly pushing them away as well. 

A couple of hours after they decide to stop at a Jupiter port to switch to a Lighthouse cruiser, Deke's lounging in his bunk in a rare moment of silence and peace. He's been on the Zephyr for approximately two weeks, and almost every minute was spent on the mission at hand.

He usually doesn't like to think about his mother, but he's doing it now. He suspects his memories are all a little blurred since she died when he was nine and he's approaching his late twenties now, and it's just about the saddest thing ever—that he cannot remember the exact shade of his mom's eyes, can remember nearly nothing about her eyes except that she did not pass them down to him and that they were hazel. He wonders whether it was a light hazel that looked like gold or wheat, or a dark hazel that bordered on brown. 

The whole ship shakes, and he falls off the bunk. He swears as he rubs his elbows and gets to his feet before exiting the bunk. "What in the _hell_ is going on, guys?" he yells to no one in particular. 

"Fitz is just doing some engine repairs," Yo-Yo says, brushing past him in the narrow corridor beyond his bunk. 

"Engine repairs," Deke repeats. "While the engine is running."

"When else is he supposed to do it?"

"Oh, I don't know? How about when the engine _isn't_ running?" he says, following her into the main area of the Zephyr, housing all the monitors and official SHIELD tech. 

"I'm afraid the damage might be a bit too serious for him to wait," Simmons says, turning away from one of the monitors. Hit a stray asteroid. Mack and Fitz had to get on it immediately in case it caused any substantial issues.

"Oh," Deke mumbles. "Makes sense."

The comm-link attached to the collar of her shirt crackles to life. Simmons steps away, bickering hurriedly with Fitz. After a moment, she turns back to Deke, looking slightly apologetic. "Sorry, Deke, but could you go down to the lower supply closet, please? There's a little red box of tools that Fitz is going to need in a bit."

"Yeah, sure," he says, jogging away. The Zephyr gives another gut-wrenching lurch, and swallowing slightly, Deke descends into the lower levels of the Zephyr.

* * *

As far as Daisy knows, there's kind of a disaster going on, and it woke her from a much-needed nap. She's currently climbing down the stairs to get some supplies from one of the supply closets. As she opens the door to the closet, the Zephyr shakes violently, making the lights turn off and causing her to stumble into the closet, and then into—a person?

Someone's muttering quickly and rather violently in French—probably swearing. Hands are on her arms, presumably steadying the person attached to them. He yelps, hissing and recoiling. "What the hell?"

"Calm down," Daisy hisses. "It's me. Daisy."

There's a pause. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't accidentally grab your neck or something, did I?"

"No," she mutters. "I'm not that short."

This is proved when the lights flicker on for a second, and she finds her face about three inches from Deke's. His lips part, but then the lights flicker off again, followed by more swearing, probably in Russian again.

"For Christ's sake," Daisy mumbles, her face feeling warm. "How many languages do you speak?"

She almost feels him relax slightly at that question, somehow. "About five or six. Lighthouse stations have people of all backgrounds, you know? If you grew up on one, you had to know at least a few, like English and Spanish and some East Asian language. Our station was pretty diverse, so I had to learn a lot, some of them at the same time I was even learning English."

Daisy smiles despite herself. "Got a list?"

Deke chuckles, and he must still be pretty close to her, because she can feel a whisper of air against her lips. "I was learning English and Spanish since I could speak. My mom **—** "

He pauses, and Daisy doesn't push. She's figured out that it's a sore topic. "My mom spoke French," he continues, his voice just slightly uneven. "She taught me before she died. And I learned Russian, speak it pretty well, almost like a native. Portuguese, too, though I don't find any situations in which I have to speak it anymore. I've probably gotten really bad at it. So I guess I wouldn't count that."

"That's cool," Daisy says sincerely. "You'd think being part of a spy agency would make you pretty well versed in several languages, but I can only speak English and Chinese, and that's because of my mom." If Deke notices the slight tremble in her voice at the mention of her own mother, he doesn't comment on it.

"Call me crazy, but I don't think a supply closet is the best place to bond," he says after a pause. "Jeez, I can't even reach this stupid toolbox. Hey, Daisy, could you go out and get me a stool—"

There's a loud yet slightly muffled bang, and the ship shakes. _"External impact,"_ says an automated voice. _"All Zephyr units are going into lockdown immediately."_

"Oh, _fuck me,"_ Daisy mutters. She feels the door blindly before grabbing the handle and trying to turn it—but to no avail. "Can't get you a stool. We're locked in here."

"That's a shame," Deke sighs.

 _"Stay calm, Deke, I'll override the lockdown in a few minutes,"_ Simmons's voice says, coming from the comm-link on the collar of Deke's shirt, probably. Daisy sighs inwardly, when the Zephyr seems to launch into something like turbulence. 

"Grab onto something," she says, reaching out with her hands—grabbing the side of a shelf with one, and the door handle with another. In the dark, the only sound is her breathing and Deke's mixing together, and the rumble of the engine.

"I hate tight spaces," she admits. She only ever told Ward that. Not that it ever mattered.

"Talk," she hears Deke say. His fingers are drumming against some unseen surface, and he seems bizarrely untroubled. Nothing beyond the slightly clumsy and boyish mischief that hung around him. "Direct your focus on something else."

She snorts. "I have nothing to talk about. I'm boring."

He huffs, the breath landing across her forehead and stirring her hair. He's so close, and she's terrifyingly aware of it, all of a sudden. "You're right. You, Daisy Johnson, are the most boring person ever. Interplanetary spy warrior? _Bo-ring!"_ he finishes in a sing-song voice.

The lights come back on, and Daisy finds that his arms are on either side of her head, hands braced on the shelf behind her and above her head. She realizes that his eyes aren't quite blue—they're tinged with green, too. 

Daisy's not really one to make out with people in supply closets, but if she's being honest, she's not totally opposed to the idea—

Something clicks. "I think the door is unlocked," Deke says, his cheeks red and his voice shaking slightly. If he tilts his head forward, the tips of their noses would touch. The Zephyr was huge! Why couldn't it have been built with a larger supply closet.

He moves his arms away, taking the heat of his body with him. He reaches up to rub the back of his neck. "I—um. The tools. I think—yeah. I can get it. Uh—what was it that you needed?"

"I don't remember," she says.

"Great," Deke says. "It was probably the toolbox."

"The red one."

"Yeah, Simmons told me to get it."

Daisy looks beyond Deke's shoulder. "It's right behind you."

"Oh," he says, looking a lot more surprised than he should be. "I would've found it." _If you hadn't shown up,_ Daisy thinks he wants to say. It's honestly a little funny, how smooth and composed Deke seemed when she took him from his cruiser, when in reality, he's honestly really awkward.

_Except for when he's right up against you in a dark supply closet—_

"I am going to go now," he says, taking the toolbox. "Try not to crack your head open on a shelf because of turbulence."

"Thank you, Deke," Daisy says, and doesn't breathe again until she no longer hears his footsteps in the hallway beyond the supply closet.

* * *

"What's up with you?" Fitz asks, tapping Deke on the shoulder.

"Absolutely nothing," Deke replies, putting his chin in his hand. It's been about two weeks since the incident in the supply closet, and Deke's been thinking about it far more than he'd like to admit.

"Oh, bloody hell," Fitz sighs, his Scottish accent thickening for a moment. "Deke, if you aren't going to keep your mind on the task at hand—"

"No, no, I'm paying attention," he insists, sitting up. Daisy comes into the main area. "How's the planning going?" she asks.

"Fine," Deke replies. "It's coming together alright."

"Great," she says, smiling at him. If there's one thing Deke is happy about, it's that things aren't overly awkward on the surface. Sure, Daisy's kind of got that attitude that he's an inexperienced child, but he can handle that. He's heard far worse, all things considered. "We're coming up on our port in two weeks. There shouldn't be any issues, seeing as they will know that we're SHIELD up until that point."

"Well, I'm still ready to talk our way out of any nasty situations," Deke mumbles, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes. "You never know."

"Right," says Fitz, before locking eyes with Daisy. A meaningful glance passes between them, before Daisy turns to Fitz, saying almost absentmindedly to Deke; "There's a nightstand beside the bed in my bunk. and in the bottom drawer there's a file marked 'LH 9-1.' Can you—"

"Sure," Deke replies, walking out of the main area. He goes down to where he thinks Daisy's bunk is, the wing of the ship where she seems to come from every time. He finds it pretty easily, a sliding door with a small daisy painted in the top left corner. He wonders vaguely when that was painted. He pulls the door open before stepping in and reaching across the cramped space by her bed to pull open the bottom drawer. He grabs the file and turns to leave, but finds himself frozen, staring at the wall.

There were rose-gold badges on the wall, in varying states of appearance. Older badges a little worn around the corners—newer ones still shining brightly. There were so many names that it sent Deke's head swimming.

 _Victoria Hand._ _Antoine Triplett. Jiaying Johnson. Grant Ward._

This last badge had smudged fingerprints on it, as if it had been touched many times recently. There were more as well— _Andrew Garner, Holden Radcliffe, Robert Reyes, Jeffrey Mace, Lincoln Campbell._ Lincoln Campbell's badge also looked as though it had been touched recently.

Daisy bursts into the room, looking out of breath. "I'm sorry," she pants. "I didn't think—"

She pauses, still staring at him. "It's just—" She takes a deep breath before sitting down on her bunk. He sits down beside her. "I call it the Wall of Valor. These are all the most important people I know that have—"

"Yeah," Deke says, sparing her the pain of saying it out loud. "Isn't there a real Wall of Valor, though? Back on Earth?"

"Yes," she replies. "Like this but a lot bigger, holding the names of every SHIELD agent that's ever died in combat or on a mission."

He glances at her. "You think my name will go on there one day since I'm on this mission?"

Daisy swallows. "Don't say that. You won't die."

"Everybody dies."

"You're not dying on this mission," she clarifies, a tremor in her voice. "I won't—you're our getaway driver," she says finally, her tone lightening drastically, but Deke can tell that she's faking it, just a little at least. 

"I guess," concedes Deke. "You know, they weren't all your fault."

She frowns. "How—why would you think I hold myself responsible for all of these deaths?"

 _I know you,_ he's about to say, but they're not quite the right words. "I have an idea of how you process loss," he says after a moment. "And I wasn't there for any of these deaths, but it wasn't all your fault."

She blinks. "I could've saved all of them."

Deke puts his hand on her shoulder. "Maybe that's what you think. But you—you're a talented agent, Daisy. But no one can save everyone. And that's not your fault."

She looks down. "It used to be better. Easier."

"I know," he responds. Daisy glances at him. "How?" she asks.

Deke puts his free hand on the back of his neck. "You probably don't remember, but I met you at a Lighthouse port a couple of years back. You were on your way to the first HIVE occupation. You'd stopped there for supplies, and we talked."

"I remember going there, but I don't remember you," she murmurs. "Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for. We didn't talk that much."

She's still looking at him, and her name hovers at the tip of his tongue.

Daisy gets up abruptly, blinking. "You should get that file to Fitz, and the two of you should review it," she orders, her tone suddenly rather cold. "I'll see you later."

Sighing, he also stands, moving to walk out of the room and leaving Daisy to stare at the badges.

Deke wonders if she's waiting for his name to be among those names as well.

* * *

**one month later**

* * *

The Lighthouse cruiser carries an air of familiarity to Deke, establishes a sense of steadiness and just puts him in a better mood in general. 

"It's different from the Zephyr," says May, her hands over the controls. 

"Not that different," Deke replies cheerfully. "It's built a little different than the Zephyr, but it has a lot of space."

"I think I'm getting it," May says, guiding the ship steeply downwards. Distantly, Deke hears Fitz screaming in annoyance. He realizes that May is actually nice to be around when she isn't looking murderous or sulking. She glances sideways at him. "So what's the deal with Daisy?" she asks.

"Deal? There's no deal. We are deal free."

May rolls her eyes. "She's tough."

"I figured."

She glances sideways at him, opening her mouth as if she'd like to say something, but she decides against it. May is many things; Deke knows talkative isn't on that list.

"May," he says, despite himself. "Are you scared? About what we're going to do?"

He expects her to say no or to give no response at all, but to his surprise, she does neither. "All the time," she says. "That's what makes me a good agent. You shouldn't live in fear, but you should always be aware of what you have to lose."

"What if someone has nothing to lose?" he asks softly.

 _"Everybody_ has something to lose," she replies with an equally soft voice, leaving Deke wondering just how much grief she's had to experience in her life.

* * *

Daisy hates the Lighthouse cruiser. It makes her skin crawl with unfamiliarity and discomfort, all the different shapes and different colors of metal. As a SHIELD agent, a constant, steady place to be is rare—however, the Zephyr was the closest to a home she could've possibly had.

She seems to be the only one, however—the rest of the team's never had any issues with readjustment, and Deke? Well, he seems overjoyed. This is his terrain—a small piece of his home.

She takes a seat in the main area of the ship, lacing her hands together. After a moment, Deke joins her.

"Who's flying the ship?" Daisy asks, alarmed.

"May," he says, almost cheerfully. "She's caught on to flying this thing a lot faster than I expected."

"Oh," she replies, looking down. Deke knocks his shoulder against hers—just gently. He's a very physical person, she realizes. Easily high-fiving Mack at every small victory, even trading hugs with Elena, who is, surprisingly, the second most physical person on the team. He touches Simmons's arm, even touches Fitz.

It's disconcerting to Daisy, who has stopped handing out her touches freely ever since Lincoln died.

"Deke," she says. "You know what it's like to be on a Lighthouse station occupied with Kree."

She feels him stiffen. "I do."

"Anything you can tell us is valuable. You know that, right?"

"Of course," he replies. "It's—" He pauses, smiling. But it is not as bright and careless as all of the others—this smile borders on a grimace of pain. "Guess I should start at the beginning then, right?"

"Sure."

He exhales. "I was three when they took the station. The first thing they did was clear out the on-station government, reestablish themselves as the sole and superior authority. Punishment for any crime was to be shoved out of an airlock with no suit." He puts his hands on his knees, fingers clenched. "My family and I—we did everything we could to avoid trouble. Complied at all costs—cut our food rations to whatever they said, moved and spoke whenever and wherever they said. It had gone on for six years before we discovered another part of their agenda. They were collecting kids, always after their ninth birthdays. The halfway point to adulthood, or something. Two weeks after I turned nine, the Kree showed up at our place and demanded to take me. And my mom—well, she was always the one after me and my dad to be careful, to avoid trouble, to do everything they said. But as they were coming to take me, she refused to give me up. She fought back. They shot her," he adds tersely, as if Daisy didn't already figure that out. They thought my dad was gonna be the same. So they sedated me, and I was so sure that they were going to kill him. And that's what I believed, for years and years. I was all alone after that."

"Deke," she says, almost helplessly.

"I would've kept it to myself my whole life if I could. The personal details of the whole thing." His face is bleak. "Every minute from my mom's body hitting the floor to the end of the Kree Occupation was a nightmare."

"Why did they take the children?"

Deke glances sideways. "Some people are... how do I saw this? What they told me was that some people are born with some genetic mutation, but it doesn't show up until something triggers it."

Daisy's blood turns to ice, heart pounding loudly in her ears.

"They called it Terrigenesis. They put all the nine-year-olds through it. If you had the mutation, you'd suddenly have some strange ability. A superpower, really. They put me in, nothing happened. I was left to fend for myself for the next eight years."

Daisy gets to her feet. "I have to go," she splutters, before leaving behind a confused Deke to run to the room she's supposed to stay in. She doesn't have the comfort of her mother's badge here, so she just sits down, and buries her face in her hands.

* * *

_"You may think that it's something to be afraid of," Jiaying said to her softly. "But every one of us here at Afterlife has a gift."_

_"So this is a place for—" Daisy trailed_ _off, unable to find the word._

 _"Inhumans," Jiaying answered_ _. "That's what we are called."_

_She swallowed. "What exactly is it that I do, Mom?"_

_Jiaying blinked at the way Daisy addressed her—Daisy had only found out that Jiaying was her mother a mere three weeks ago. "You can control the vibrations of everything around you. That's why you were able to move that mountain. You make earthquakes, and you use them to your advantage."_

_"It's like telekinesis."_

_"In a sense."_

_"What can you do?" Daisy asked._

_Jiaying smiled gently. "Do you feel the wind out here?" As if on cue, a soft breeze blew across her face, carrying with it the strong scent of flowers and faint, indistinct conversations. "I can heal myself, and I don't age as fast as others. This is why I look much too young to be your mother,"_ _she said with a quiet laugh_ _, putting an arm on Daisy's shoulder. "I draw from this—everything around us, the life of the world to fix any injury I have."_

_"Doesn't that take away from the life of the world?"_

_"It always comes back," Jiaying answered. "The wind is infinite. My alternative would be to take from another human being. Killing them to prolong my life."_

_Daisy wanted to ask her if she had ever actually killed someone for that purpose, but she was too afraid of what the answer might be._

_"Daisy," Jiaying said. "You will have to be careful. The world has advanced, but humanity remains the same," she adds bitterly. "Some will be accepting, but most will view you as a violation—or worse, they will want to cut you apart and observe every cell in your body. Like they did with me," she sighed, causing Daisy to glance, once again, at the long scar on the side of her face. "There are some things that even I cannot heal," she said, once she realized Daisy was looking at it. "And having your powers will not always save you. It will be someone's downfall if you don't use it right—maybe yours, maybe someone you love."_

* * *

_"Lincoln," she said softly. "Lincoln, I'm so sorry. Please, just come back and let me do this."_

_"You deserve to live," his voice said over the ship comm. "Daisy, I've made bad choices. And this is my chance to make it right. Not just for myself, but for everyone else. For you."_

_Coulson's hand was a heavy weight on her back. "You can't just die for me. You can't."_

_"I'm okay with it," Lincoln said quietly._

_Daisy thought about everything that lead her here, everything that happened. How she allowed a horrible thing wearing the face of yet another person she loved coerce her into causing so much destruction. How that thing was now with Lincoln in a ship high above, ready to explode, to kill the unkillable thing, save the day, doom her conscience._

_"I can't possibly be that important to you," she choked out, tears on her lips._

_"You are, Daisy. You are. You've made me believe that I could do something good for once. That's why I lo—"_

_The audio cut out. A moment later, on the monitor of their own ship, she watched Lincoln's ship explode. All because she was so easy to sway. All because she left them, betrayed her team. All because she let herself go, let HIVE take her. The final battle of the HIVE mutiny, ending not with blood, but with nothing. Atoms dispersed, floating endlessly in space to become the body of a thousand stars._

* * *

Deke slides the door open, revealing the crumpled form of Daisy sitting on the bed in her bunk.

"You have the mutation," he says. Daisy doesn't respond. "I'm not stupid, Daisy. You should know that."

She looks up. "I haven't—I haven't used it in years. My power."

"Had something to do with HIVE, didn't it?"

She glares at him. "I don't like talking about it."

"They'll be looking for people like you," Deke hisses. "They'll take you. If they ever found out. And they will."

"How old were you when the HIVE mutiny started?" Daisy asks abruptly. "Six years ago."

"Twenty-one."

"Me, too," she says softly. "Do you even know what happened?"

He blinks. "Most of it was classified."

She looks up at him. "There was someone on our team named Grant Ward," Daisy says quietly. "I'd known him for a few years. You'd met me on our way to check out the first spikes of trouble caused on the outer reaches of the galaxy right?"

"Daisy, why are you telling me this?"

"Just _listen to me._ There was this old entity there. Not exactly Kree, but older, _much_ older. Some sort of immortal being. His name was often referred to as HIVE, but it really was—"

"Alveus," Deke finishes. "I already know this. It's a basic freakin' history lesson."

"Not all of it!" she snaps, agitated. "Alveus could take on the form of anything and everything. Nearly murdered Fitz and Simmons. We understood that we were beat, that we had to come back with a new plan. We were all going back to the Zephyr to evacuate. Ward and I stayed behind to hold him off. He wanted me, because of who I was. Because I was—Inhuman. He wanted them, wanted to make them immortal and orchestrate his big plan for making Inhumans the dominating species. And sure, we were the subject of a lot of hate and prejudice, but his ideology was wrong." She tilts her head up, sighing. "Ward told me to go. He said he was right behind me, said he'd be on the ship in minutes. I guess you can figure out that never happened. I thought—I thought HIVE had killed him. I believed that for the next few years. I moved on. I never really got the chance to—" She shakes her head. "That's not important. I fell in love with this guy. Lincoln Campbell. He was also an Inhuman, and he helped me control my power, turn it into something good. We were still fighting HIVE's forces, here and there. He had this ability to sway people into doing things. He was a parasite, and he was the mastermind behind the actions of everyone he controlled."

"Hive mind," Deke says, feeling sick.

"Yes," she says. "We were on Earth, three years ago. And he'd gotten here, disguised. He came to me, and he—he was Ward."

"Jesus Christ," Deke breathes. "He took his body as a host."

"I didn't know at first. He convinced me that he really was Ward, and me, in my excitement that he had survived, I fell for it easily. And he used his sway on me. It always worked better on Inhumans, because he was the first Inhuman to ever exist. He revealed who he really was after that, but I didn't care. Not that I was now in his control. But it wasn't really a mindless thing. He presented an idea, a task, and I—I _wanted to_ do that. I wanted to do what he said. His approval was like a drug for everyone he swayed. I did all of the horrible things he asked me to, and I wanted to. I remember everything about being under his control. I didn't fight it. I loved it. He'd gathered so much support, that all of the people under him rebelled against others. The mutiny. And back on Earth, he'd gotten hold of this nuclear warhead and was going to release some modified version of Terrigen everywhere. A failed experiment," she adds bitterly. "It didn't quite turn people into these glorious warriors like a real Terrigen crystal did. But in the end, he didn't mind. It turned people into these literally mindless primitive things, and they were already under his control from the exact moment of Terrigenesis."

She laces her fingers together, taking a deep breath. "Fitz and Simmons were able to get me out, with the help of Andrew Garner, another Inhuman and May's ex-husband. They had developed a way to get me out of his control, and I was—by that time it was too late. The warhead was on one of planes, and Lincoln had gotten on with him. He blew up the plane to destroy the warhead and kill HIVE." Daisy looks at him. "I caused so much destruction. I leveled small cities for him. And I promised I'd never use my power again. And I'm going to keep that promise, and the Kree will never know who I am."

Deke swallows. "What else?"

She frowns. "What?"

"There's something else you want to say to me, I can tell. So just say it."

She stands. "If something is about to happen to me there—don't try and save me."

Deke huffs. "Uh, no. And it's nothing personal. Whether you like it or not, I'm a part of this team. And if this team is a group of people that gets each other out of trouble, which I know it is, then I'll do that. "

"I don't want you to die for me!"

"I won't," he says coldly. "Contrary to what you seem to think, I'm not some helpless idiot. I survived on a Kree station for fourteen years. I know how to survive. And if I'm going to save you, I'll be able to walk away from it breathing." He tries to soften his tone. "And you do deserve to be saved. You're not some horrible villain, okay? I know you say you wanted to, but you had no choice. You didn't want to be in that position in the first place, and I think that matters in these circumstances. You can try to push people away and keep them at least at arm's length all the time, but it's not just me who'd save you. It's everyone else. It's been like that since Ward gave his life to save you, whether you like it or not."

"Ward and Lincoln are different," she says. "They were—I loved them."

"You love everyone else on the team, too."

"I was in love with them."

"Well, you're not in love with me," Deke mutters. "So you should have no problem with me putting myself at risk to save you."

She blanches. "That's not what I meant—"

"Not everything is about you, Daisy," he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose before walking away.

* * *

**a month (and a half) later**

* * *

The Lighthouse station looms before them, and Daisy watches Deke at the controls. The flight controls of the Lighthouse cruiser are connected to the main area, not blocked off in a cockpit, like the Zephyr. 

"Stop staring," he says. "You're making me nervous."

"I'm not staring," Daisy protests. 

"Sure you aren't." He turns his head to look at everyone else. "We're approaching the Lighthouse Station in roughly two hours. They might try and take us hostage once we dock."

"Or they could shoot us out of the sky," Fitz mumbles.

"They won't," Deke says sharply. 

"They think we're delivering supplies," Daisy declares. "SHIELD sent them that message, and they're expecting us. I just think they plan to not let us go back."

"Sounds a bit like you guys didn't think this through," Deke mumbles.

"Shut up, Deke," Fitz and Daisy say at the same time. 

Daisy wouldn't admit to anyone, but she's nervous. Well, she's always nervous before every big mission, but this seems different. She can't help but think of HIVE, everything she's lost.

The ground shakes below her feet, just momentarily.

"More engine trouble?" Deke asks. Fitz glances at Daisy, knowing, speaking silently.

"No," Daisy breathes, struggling to keep her voice even despite having only said one word. "Everything's fine. Isn't it, Fitz?"

Simmons nods. "Yeah. Everything is alright," Fitz mutters.

Inside Daisy's brain, there's a small explosion, warning bells and debris.

She just unconsciously used her powers. After years of holding it at bay, it's escaped her, just a bit. She's losing control.

"Strap in," May says. "And be ready."

* * *

"Docking sequence complete," May says softly. "We're locked onto the Lighthouse."

Deke's head is pounding. May, thankfully, doesn't push him to say anything quite yet.

"I'll go tell the team to get ready," she says after a moment. 

"They'll take all of our weapons once we arrive on the station," Deke mumbles. 

May frowns. "Supply delivery crew members don't have weapons."

"You know what I mean. We'll be searched anyway, won't we?"

May smiles. "There's not a single person on this team incapable of killing someone without a gun. You know that, right?"

Deke swallows. "I think I'm an exception to that."

"You've trained with us for three months," May assures him. "I think you can handle yourself without a weapon." The training part was technically true—Daisy and May had spent a fair amount of time perfecting the little combat he had learned when he had first started training as a Lighthouse pilot. It hadn't been the best experience—Deke thinks he has about a million bruises from that whole ordeal. And while he can't even last more than a minute when he's fighting May, he can manage to knock Daisy down if he's smart enough.

("He fights dirty," Daisy claims. 

"Good," replies May.)

"We're not taking guns," May sighs. "We won't fight back if they try anything the first time, unless they move to kill."

"They won't," Deke says, repressing a shudder. "They'll need all the people on the station they can get."

"Why's that?"

He thinks about Daisy, and his blood goes cold at the thought that they might test them for the Terrigen-activated gene, and this whole mission will be doomed. "They'll want to put us through Terrigenesis," he says softly. "We have to keep her out of it."

She frowns. "You know about Daisy's powers."

Deke doesn't answer for a minute. "Yeah, I do. Let's go."

* * *

Daisy reluctantly sets her gun down on top of the nightstand in her bunk before going out to the main opening of the ship. She's been on Lighthouse stations before, but there's an unfamiliar dread floating in the air. 

Mack unloads the supplies they had brought on the ship. He and Elena are staying behind on the ship for some time. For the sake of appearance, they actually did bring supplies, at least to convince them to get near the station. Deke and May appear next to her, and the former comes to her.

"I should've told you earlier," he says, his fingers twitching. "It didn't even occur to me—"

"What is it?" she asks.

"There's the possibility that they'll put us all through Terrigenesis."

"Nothing will happen to me," Daisy says. "I already went through that. And so did Yo-Yo, but she's not coming."

He shakes his head. "They've perfected the process over the years, I'm sure of it. You'll be discovered." He frowns. "Elena has powers?"

"Having difficulties with it at the moment, but yes," Elena confirms. "I'm an Inhuman."

"Oh, wow. That's cool," Deke says, before turning back to Daisy. "But like I said—they'll find out who you are. You could get killed, Daisy. Or something."

"I won't. I'm too smart to let that happen."

"We're going back inside," Mack and Elena say together. "If they try and search the ship, we'll do our best to stay hidden."

"There are two spacesuits by Airlock 13a," Deke tells them. "In case you run out of hiding spots."

"Sounds fun," Elena mutters, patting Deke's shoulder before she follows Mack back inside.

After a minute, Daisy hears the door open, and his face takes on a faint grey tint. She turns her own head to see two Kree standing at the entrance, each of them holding a gun in one hand and a large ax in the other.

"We're here to bring the supplies to the Lighthouse Station—" Fitz starts to say, but more Kree flood in, holding them all at gunpoint. Daisy and Deke share a glance for a microsecond before slowly raising their hands.

* * *

He can't stand the sight of them. It's almost as if he can see his mother lying at their feet, blood pouring out of her, dark red and clotted.

"We aren't going to let you leave," one of them says, and the voice grates against his brain, makes every cell in his body want to run, or at least, hurl himself out of an airlock. "A trip to this station is one-way. It's a shame no one told you that, apparently."

He looks at one of his other men. "Take them to the center. If they're one of the Inhumans..." he grins, and Deke struggles to keep his eyes on the man. "Take 'em to Kasius."

"What's Kasius going to do?" the man holding Simmons and Fitz hostage asks, apparently a stranger to the process. 

The man in charge widens his smile. "They'll drain them for blood, try and replicate it and produce more of them here at the station. And if they're any use afterwards, I'm sure there are people in the Confederacy that'll pay handsomely for them."

Daisy looks as though she's going to be sick, and Deke cannot blame her.

And if they found out—

"She and I are from Lighthouse 6-4," Deke blurts, jerking his head towards Daisy, making the man directly in front of him jam the barrel of his gun into his forehead. "We've already been put through Terrigenesis by your—other people. He doesn't know how he's keeping his voice steady, slightly nonchalant, even, but he's doing it. "I'm in the system as Deke Shaw, and she's in the system as Eleanor Chen. You can look it up."

Daisy is as still as a rock next to him. He's not sure if she's even breathing.

One of the other men hands the main Kree a tablet, where he fiddles with it for a moment. He glances up. "That's Deke Shaw," he confirms, before turning to Daisy. "Why don't you have a photo in the database, Chen?"

"System was experiencing difficulties when she was put into it," Deke answers.

"She can speak for herself, can't she?"

"It's true," Daisy says, her voice also steady, perhaps steadier than Deke's. "They couldn't record my fingerprint or image that day. They had my blood, but as you know, that station lost all physical evidence."

The man in charge smiles sinisterly. "From one Kree Station to another," he says. "Take Shaw and Chen to one of the vacancies. The others go to the center." Deke and Daisy are roughly pulled away from the others and dragged down endless corridors, before being shoved into a Lighthouse flat with a similar layout to the one Deke lived in as a child. "Stay here," the Kree says roughly, before pulling the door shut. Daisy leaps up immediately, trying to wrench it open, but to no avail.

"What the hell was that?" she spits, whirling around to face Deke. "What did you do?"

"I saved your ass!" he replies indignantly. "You're lucky I remembered Eleanor Chen in time."

"Well, why'd you get both of us separated from the rest of the team? And _god_ knows what'll happen to them now—"

"Wouldn't it have looked suspicious if I spoke just for you?" he spits. "I had to make it believable. And _nothing_ is going to happen to the others. They're not Inhumans."

"You didn't know that," she breathes.

"But you did, didn't you?" he asks her. She's much too close to him. "Besides, I'm not an idiot. I told them they would be put through Terrigenesis. They would've told me if they were Inhumans. And even if they didn't, you knew, right?"

Daisy swallows, refusing to look away. "I did. Lucky guess, Deke. But we don't take risks like that here."

"No, you don't take risks like that back home. But I know this place. And the only way you survive is through lies."

She steps back. "Who's Eleanor Chen?"

Deke exhales. "A girl I used to know. She was my age, went through Terrigenesis around the same time I did because she was about two weeks older than me. She wasn't an Inhuman, and I remember that their system malfunctioned when they were entering her data."

"Where is she now?"

"I don't know," he answers. "If she's lucky, she's probably back on Earth."

She sighs. "You've relied on pure luck twice now, Deke."

"It wasn't all luck, _Eleanor,"_ he says sharply. Daisy doesn't argue with him, but it's probably not because she agrees with him.

"Did you know her well?" she asks after a minute.

"Nora Chen and I were kind of close when we were kids because she lived pretty close to us, too. But we stopped talking after my mom died. Went our separate ways, I guess." He glances at her. "The others will be alright, and we'll see them tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Daisy spits.

Deke jerks his head towards the clock set into the wall in the corner, without having even looked at it first. Turns out he still knows the Lighthouse better than he thought. "It's night. It's time to sleep."

"You think I'm going to _sleep?"_ she asks in disbelief.

"You'll have to," Deke murmurs grimly. "There's nothing else to do."

Daisy glances at the bed in the corner, singular. When she looks back at Deke, he's already balling up his jacket and putting it behind his head as he settles into the chair by the small desk in another corner.

"Deke," she says. "We have to get out of here."

"I don't suggest using your powers," he says, his voice trembling slightly. "Someone will report you. If it's a destructive power or something. But if you can somehow unlock that door without making it look broken or tampered with, then sure, go at it."

Scowling, Daisy sits on the bed.

"What even is your ability?" Deke asks.

He listens quietly as Daisy tells him about the quaking and the vibrations.

"Yeah, definitely don't mess with the door," he mutters after she finishes. "There are no earthquakes on space stations," he says sagely.

"Thank you, Deke, I didn't know."

"Always happy to help," he mumbles. "Rest, Daisy. You're going to need it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Deke turns to look at her. "Starting tomorrow, they're going to try and integrate us into the Lighthouse society. They'll put us to work, and we'll do it, if we want to keep living." He raises his eyebrows. "Sounds to me like this Kasius guy is in charge. So we work our way up to him. Silent infiltration."

"Sounds like you have a pretty good plan," she mutters.

"Sounds like you don't," he counters. "Just trust me, okay? This will work out fine."

* * *

Daisy's not sure how it happens, but she falls asleep. When she wakes, the light in the room has been turned off, but she can see in the dim light of the clock that Deke is sitting hunched over in the chair, facing the door with his hands in his hair. He sniffs, and she realizes he's crying.

And evidently done with it. He pulls a hand out of his hair to wipe the tear off of his face, before sitting still again.

She waits a minute before sitting up. "Deke?" she says softly, into the darkness. "How long was I asleep?"

"Four hours," he replies, his voice heavy. "You can go back to sleep for a couple more. I'll wake you."

"I can't," she replies, getting to her feet. "You alright?"

"Yes."

She walks over the door, laying her palm flat on the surface. She can feel things in there—locks and wires, probably. "Maybe I can bust us out of here without getting caught."

"There might be night patrol," Deke answers, raising his eyebrows.

"To hell with the night patrol," she mumbles. "We need to find the others."

"Fine," he mumbles, getting up. She tries to not get distracted by his presence, the rhythm of his breath and the faint scent that's uniquely him—that vague boy smell, men's shampoo or something of the sort.

_Nice job, Daisy. Making a monologue in your head about how a guy smells like you're a freakin' middle schooler or something._

"Sure you know what you're doing?" he asks.

"80%," she replies. The door shakes slightly, and Deke stuffs his fist into his mouth, eyes widening.

Something clicks, and she goes to pull the handle of the door. It slides open easily, and she smiles. "Perfect." She glances up at Deke, who's frowning slightly. "What?"

"If something bad happens, I'm gonna run," he murmurs, pushing past her and into the dark corridor. 

"Of course," she says behind him. "Got the spirit of a true agent, don't you?"

"Absolutely," he responds. "The only reason I'm walking in front of you is because I have a better idea of what this station looks like than you do, Daisy."

She rolls her eyes, coming to walk next to him. "Just relax. The point is to be brave in the face of—"

"Daisy, shut up," he says.

"Oh, you shut—"

"I'm serious!" he hisses, his voice dropping drastically. "There's someone here."

She can hear it now, and curses herself for not hearing it sooner. There are foosteps just around the corner of the Lighthouse, and she steps forward.

"—working with them personally," she hears someone say, and she recognizes the vaguely monstrous rasp of the Kree. "Kasius has always been interested in them, but he's growing desperate. Run out of favor with his father, apparently."

"Imagine if he had the greatest one of all," another says, and there's a low, sinister chuckle. "Destroyer of Worlds."

Daisy inhales sharply. It's not something anyone should've heard even from a few feet away, but the Kree are apparently the exception. Deke grabs her arm and yanks her back, dragging her back to their room as quietly as possible. She elbows him back into the room and trips slightly as she slides the door shut with a small bang. 

"A door opened over here," one of the Kree say distantly, and she shoves Deke onto the bed, lying down next to him and wrapping her arms around his body.

"So _now_ you want to sleep?" he hisses, his breath curving over the shell of her ear. 

"Shut up and pretend you're asleep," she commands.

"Fucking spy shit," he murmurs into her hair as his arms pull her even closer to his body. "Are you seriously gonna sleep in that stupid leather jacket?"

"Are you gonna sleep in yours?"

Deke yanks his jacket off of his shoulders and tosses it to the floor, with Daisy following suit. She can hear his heart through the thin material of his shirt now, but it's not fast. 

Her finger brushes the hem of his shirt, and his heartbeat speeds up, just slightly. "My bad," she breathes.

"Stop talking."

A minute later, the door slides open so suddenly that she barely stops herself from flinching in his arms.

"Thought these two were under special orders to be barricaded in," a Kree says. Deke's eyelashes are brushing her forehead, and she tries to fixate on that small detail to try and keep herself still and her breathing even. "The door's unlocked."

"And the lock's broken."

She feels Deke's fingers on her hip shake slightly.

"Damn station needs too many repairs," one says, and a moment later, the door closes again.

They stay there for a few minutes in silence before Deke releases a breath and lies flat on his back on the bed, making Daisy unconsciously scoot closer to avoid falling off of the bed.

"Jesus Christ," Daisy mutters. "That was just embarrassing."

"Yeah, there had to have been better ways of handling that," he replies. "God, that was so exhausting and I didn't even do anything."

"Near-death experiences will do that to you," she responds, and then becomes acutely aware of how her arm is still around him, with her head resting by one of his collarbones. "Here, you sleep for a bit. I'll sit in the chair."

"You can have the bed," he mutters. "Don't think I'm gonna get any sleep for the rest of the night." Daisy moves off of him to let him sit up and get to his feet. "That wasn't very professional, was it?" he says with a snort. 

"It's not always like that," Daisy replies, rubbing the back of her neck. "Kind of a last resort to shove someone onto a bed."

"Figures," he mutters, grabbing his jacket off the floor and pulling it back on. "You want yours?"

"I'm good, Deke," she mutters. Daisy lies down, trying to think.

Things are too normal with him—too effortless, too close. The person she is with him strays from the person she's tried to be ever since Lincoln died—cold and detached, stoic and ready to deal with any loss that comes her way.

Sighing slightly, Daisy closes her eyes. She has bigger things to worry about.

* * *

Deke looks up when the clock finally displays _0600_ and looks back at Daisy. "You know, I thought you said you weren't going to use your powers."

He watches her pause, and then frown. "I—I'd forgotten."

It seems like a lame excuse, but Deke gets the feeling she's being serious.

"Yeah, well, you should be more careful. I guess it was necessary last night, but—maybe for now it's best if we stay off of their radar." He looks back at the clock. "We have two hours to get breakfast and receive our job assignments. I'm guessing—all Lighthouses follow roughly the same schedule, even the one I grew up in. Guess the Kree were too lazy to come up with their own schedule." Standing up, Deke reaches out to grab the handle of the door, sliding it open easily. "Perfect. You coming?" He asks, looking back at Daisy, her hair still pooled on the pillow like dark clouds around her head. Something about the sight makes Deke feel a little funny, and he tries to not fidget.

"Yeah, give me a minute," she mumbles, getting to her feet. 

"I thought secret agents didn't sleep," Deke says, unable to think of something cooler to say.

"Are you kidding me? In the list of the most important things in my life, sleep is like, in the top ten. Top _five."_

"Mm," he says, walking through the door before her. "Let's see if we can find Fitz and Simmons and May." Deke tries to find his way to the main eating area, and he only gets lost once. "Here we are." He glances sideways to see Daisy scanning the crowd, looking for familiar faces. "Found them." She grabs Deke's arm and pulls him along until they're at a table with the others. Neither of them are eating, as no one has any currency right now.

"Thank god," Simmons says, putting her arms around Deke and then Daisy. "We thought something horrible had happened to you two."

"Almost, but it didn't," Daisy assures them. "Any word from Mack and Yo-Yo on the comm link?"

"Comm link?" Deke asks, eyes widening. "Weren't you searched when you came in?"

May smirks, and it makes him realize how rarely he sees her smile. "It's cloaked, and extremely small, too. It was undetectable. She glances at the others. "Mack says that the Kree did a sweep of the ship, but didn't find anyone because him and Yo-Yo were hiding in an airlock, and then went outside when they searched the airlock. Even rearranged the suits to make sure they didn't see two suits missing."

"Thank god," Fitz mumbles. "I don't even want to know what would have happened if they had been caught. Now what?"

"Now we try and get to Kasius," Deke says. "I'm pretty sure that's the guy running things around here. We get him, eliminate his stupid little police force."

"That's entirely offense," Daisy protests. "We need to gain his trust. And his trust will act as a cover to take out all the Kree here."

"Yes," Deke agrees. "And there won't be too many Kree here. Not like, an unmanageable number."

"But first, we have something else to do," May says. "We have someone to find."

"You—what?" Deke splutters. "Why am I always the last to know things? Who is it?"

Fitz swallows. "It's Coulson. He's on this station. We're trying to find him."

"And who the hell is Coulson?"

Quickly, they explain who Phil Coulson is—the true leader of their team, the real Director of SHIELD. He had formed this small group, and to Daisy, Fitz, and Simmons, he was something of a father to them. Deke gets the feeling there's some complicated history between Coulson and May—complicated history including that May is probably in love with him, and, if Deke can hazard a guess, vice versa. 

"Great," he murmurs. "From now on, no more secret agendas, maybe? You guys are going to give me whiplash."

"We didn't want to talk about it while there was still a possibility that we wouldn't make it onto this ship alive," Simmons explains. 

"He could be here right now," Deke reasons. "Why aren't we looking for him?"

"We did," Fitz counters. "No sign of him."

"I wouldn't blame him," Deke sighs. "I hate Lighthouse breakfast."

Daisy scowls at him. "Shitty joke."

"Suddenly everyone's a comedian," Deke mutters under their breath. "Acting like they understand humor. Anyways—we still have to do our jobs. This mission won't be short and easy. You know that."

"Either way," says May, "Coulson is a priority."

No one, not even Deke, argues with that.

* * *

"This isn't horrible," Daisy mutters. Their jobs aren't too bad—they're working on ship mechanics, which incidentally happens to be kind of far from any other job, allowing them to have private conversations.

"It is," Deke says back to her, shaking his head to get a small piece of metal out of his hair. It drops to the floor, and he carefully picks it up with oil-stained fingers. "You just haven't seen it yet."

"You could've just used your hands," she sighs. 

"And get engine grease all over my hair? I'm good."

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

A couple of minutes later, she catches Deke doing nothing, just sitting there with a wrench in his hand. "Deke?" she asks. "You good?"

"I'm fine," he says, going back to his work quickly. "I'm just—not feeling the best about being here. And I don't even want to think about how much time it'll take us to get to Kasius."

She feels like an idiot. Of course this place would be horrible for him—he must have a lot of trauma from growing up in a Kree occupied station. "It won't be like last time. You won't lose anyone."

"Well, you never know, do you?" he answers. "These people—Kree—they're ruthless. They'll kill you for speaking out of turn. They can do whatever they want to us, Daisy. I've heard things around here already. People are barely paid enough to feed themselves even once a day. They live in constant fear, Daisy, just like I did. Just like my mom and dad did. They're never safe here. And if the Kree make it off of this station and work their way up to taking this entire solar system? I don't know exactly what will happen, but I know it will be bad. It could potentially be the end of humanity itself." He gazes at Daisy, his eyes startlingly sincere. This is nothing like the clumsy and pedantic Deke she's come to know. "It is in their nature to destroy everything they think is inferior. And in their eyes, we're dirt compared to them. We're basically nothing. And besides—I keep wondering how many more kids there are that lost their parents to them. For nothing." His throat bobs as he swallows. "My mom was so afraid I'd be an Inhuman, even when I had no idea they existed. So afraid that I'd be killed. And the worst thing—I wasn't. In the end, there was no reason for her to be dead."

"I'm sorry," she replies. Those truly must be the worst words in the entire English language. 

"Everyone's sorry," he says sharply, and she sees a glimpse of his formidable resolve. "It's never going to bring my parents back." He turns to look at her. "But I can stop it from happening to others. And that's what counts. That's the root cause of me agreeing to do this with you. Not just because you need a good pilot." He blinks. "Come to think of it, I don't know why you couldn't just do it with May. She catches onto things pretty quickly. I'm not even really in SHIELD."

Daisy sighs. "It wasn't just about talent here, Deke. You already know that everyone here has lost something to the Kree. I bet you've already figured out that we specifically looked for people with personal stakes in this. Besides, May might be too focused on getting Coulson back home safely. She's a great agent—has been for decades. But even she holds something above the job."

He blinks, looking away. "Can you imagine loving someone that much?"

She doesn't answer that.

* * *

Deke meets this kid.

His name is Flint, and he has this permanent smile on his face. That's just the way his mouth is set—always curving upward. Deke likes him immensely, from the moment Flint starts to teach them the finer parts of their new jobs.

And most of all, Deke admires his optimism in the face of the life they live.

"Everyone keeps talking about you," Flint tells him, about a week. "New arrivals are—well, they haven't happened since the station was taken by the Blues." 

His gut twists. "How old were you when they took the station?"

Flint shrugs. "Thirteen. Ish. I turned fourteen several months after." That would make him about fifteen or sixteen now.

It's sad, really. Maybe it's worse for Flint, who had the luxury of remembering what life was like before the Kree destroyed it. Deke had been three when his own station was taken—he can't remember a time before it. He wants desperately to assure Flint that it'll be over soon, but he can't. What he and the others are doing here is strictly confidential.

"Hey, pass me that wrench," Flint says quietly, reaching out. Deke does so, feeling far away. "I imagine it must've been worse for that other station. 6-4, right? Heard that station was occupied for fourteen years."

Deke huffs out a small, humorless laugh. "I grew up on that station."

Flint's eyes widen, almost comically. "Oh, wow. That _sucks."_

"Yeah, well, at least it ended. At least some of us knew freedom, even if we came back to being stuck."

The kid next to him lowers his voice. "Do you think it'll ever be over here?"

Deke keeps his voice equally low. "One day, Flint," he murmurs. His shift ends a couple of minutes later, and Deke pats Flint on the back as he gets to his feet, heading out of his sector. He and Daisy are still forced to share a room, so he expects that she'll be there when he gets back. 

In an entire week, they've basically only had water and two ration bars (one for each of them); the decrease in food hasn't necessarily been an issue for Deke, who grew up in these conditions. But he suspects that Daisy is a bit more affected by it. Something about Inhumans needing more nutrition or something.

Deke checks his Lighthouse issues wristband. The two of them are trying to save their tokens, and so far, they've done a good job.

He heads down to the main area of the station—the Market. He makes his way to the table in one corner, quickly grabbing something and making his transaction. He goes back to his room, greeting the sight of Daisy sitting cross-legged on the bed with slightly damp hair.

"Thank god the bathrooms on this station are so freakishly clean all the time," she says as he closes the door. "I guess even crazy blue aliens care about hygiene."

Deke snorts, putting his jacket on the back of the chair. 

"What's in your hand?" Daisy asks, frowning. 

"Uh—I got something," he says, holding out his closed fist. "Figured you'd need it. To make sure you didn't turn into a boneless bag of skin."

"Thanks for the image," she replies, raising her eyebrows. "What did you get?"

He opens his fist to reveal an orange, and her eyes widen. "Jesus freakin' Christ, Deke. How many tokens was that?" 

"Ten, but I only had to pay seven. You will find that I'm excellent at negotiations."

She reaches out and takes it, holding the orange reverently up to her face. "You know you didn't have to."

"Yeah, I know. Why would I reward you for explaining to me the nutritional needs of Inhumans when I'm trying to fall asleep in my lovely rickety chair? You start eating. I'm gonna shower." There's something building behind his eyes, and he has to look away from her.

He barely makes it into the shower before the tears come. He tilts his head, and the shower is so narrow that the side of his head touches the wall, causing a tear to roll down the bridge of his nose. He keeps thinking of his mom, of the faintly sweet citrus smell he used to love. How his mother used to get him oranges on his birthday, and they'd peel it together, laughing as the lovely scent of it drifted up into the air. He always knew they weren't quite perfect—a couple of things grown on the Lighthouse were artificially manufactured, even then, but it was always special.

In the years he spent on Earth training as a pilot, he'd always eat oranges, and Deke knew they were good. He could taste how much sweeter they were, even get a touch of the sourness that signified that it really grew here, that it had really hung from the branches of a tree, shrouded in dazzling green leaves. But they were not special to him, not in the way the Lighthouse oranges were special to him and his mom.

He hates it here—he sees it clearly now. He can't be in that room, not without seeing a bloodstained pool, red stains on his shoes. He can't breathe in this station, constantly suffocating in a room full of air.

Deke thought he was going to be okay; he had assumed that he'd at least somewhat recovered in the years since he's left his own station, even in the years since his dad died. But being here brings it all back in startling and aching clarity, the heavily repressed memories of a previous life coming to settle over him now like a fine layer of dust.

His face is still wet from crying when he emerges from the bathroom with his hair dripping onto his shirt, but he hopes Daisy will think it's from the shower. "Here," she says, looking up at him with something in her hand. "I left some for you."

He shakes his head, trying to not spray water all over the room. "I got it for you. You didn't have to leave anything for me."

"Oh, whatever. I know you're probably hungry, too."

He sits next to her on the bed, taking the slices she offers. "Thanks." He bites into it apprehensively, and tries to not think about his mom.

"Hey, thanks for the bed, by the way," Daisy says beside him, finishing off her own oranges, sounding a little sheepish. "Kind of a cliche move, but still."

"Dude, shut up," he says, elbowing her in the gut. "I hate the bed anyway. I feel like the springs have a mind of their own and they're going to poke through the bedsheets and disassemble my spine in my sleep if I use this bed."

"Well, now _I_ won't want to sleep in it."

"I never said that's what actually happens. I'm just saying it's _that_ uncomfortable to me. Probably because I'm sick of these stupid Lighthouse beds."

Daisy laughs a little, glancing sideways at him, and he thinks of kissing her in this moment, thinks of pulling her down the mattress as he runs his fingers through her hair. _I thought you said you hated the bed,_ she'd tell him, and he'd reply that exceptions can always be made—

He blinks, resisting the urge to shake his head. He has no interest in getting Daisy wet.

_What the hell? There had to be a better way of phrasing that thought._

"Oh, I have news, by the way," Daisy says suddenly. "We found him at dinner. Coulson."

"Why didn't you guys see him all week?"

"Some weird thing. House arrest or something. We hadn't seen him in like six months, so it was good. It was nice. Filled him in on the big plan and everything."

"And why was he on house arrest?" Deke asks. These SHIELD people are really bad at answering questions directly, now that he considers it. 

"Coulson wasn't being overly specific. Something about punching a dude in the face at the Market."

"Seriously?" Deke asks, eyes wide. "He could've gotten killed because of that."

"Looks like the Kree here are at least _trying_ maintain some sense of law and order," Daisy says, rolling her eyes.

"Or he's just lucky."

They sit in silence for some time.

"I met a kid," Deke says, then proceeds to tell her about Flint. When he's done, he puts his chin in his hands. "There are so many other kids on this station other than him. I just—"

"What?" Daisy says as he trails off.

"Tell me that we can do this," he says, his voice uncharacteristically quiet even to his own ears. "Tell me that we can free this station."

"We can," she says immediately, and he feels her hand on his back—a warm, steady presence, a tether to humanity. "We will."

* * *

**two months later**

* * *

"How do you think Mack and Elena are doing?" Coulson asks. Deke, who has also quickly come to admire Coulson and views him as some sort of paternal figure, listens raptly to what he says.

"They're fine," May assures him, and Daisy feels relief sweep through her. Mack and Yo-Yo update May on the secret comm link every week, and she's yet to receive bad news.

"Good," Coulson murmurs. "On the other hand, this would be a good time to start seeing if you can get to higher positions in your jobs. Anything that will get you closer to Kasius will help."

Daisy glances down at her wristband. "Morning break is over. Time to go." They all get up and head their separate ways, and Daisy and Deke's shift are in the same sector of the Lighthouse, so they walk together. She glances sideways and observes Deke. His face has hollowed slightly in the short time they've been here, his hair shorter and some stubble on his face, all of these details making him look older, closer to his age. When they'd first met, it had seemed that he was permanently stuck in his late teens or earliest twenties. Not that he isn't attractive now, but he certainly had some of that college-boy charm earlier. Now he really looks the part of SHIELD agent. She catches him twisting his head around and rubbing the back of his neck.

For a moment, she feels bad about him sleeping in the chair for two months, but every time she's asked if they wanted to trade places, he's always declined.

She supposes they could just be on there together. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

_You idiot, that was only for like five seconds and under totally weird circumstances._

"You okay?" she asks, because Daisy Johnson is an idiot. 

Deke's hand drops to his side immediately and he smiles. "Yeah, I'm good. See you later," he mumbles as they go their separate ways.

Maybe, if they weren't worrying about the fate of this station—and by extension, the solar system—maybe she'd be able to break down her walls enough to admit that she wants something more than what they have.

* * *

That night at dinner, Simmons looks grim. "What happened?" asks Deke.

"Looks like someone else had the same idea as us," she explains to everyone at the table. "To get to Kasius. There was an assassination attempt on him. And now Kasius is barred from dealing with any Lighthouse citizens. The only humans he'll see are—well, _Inhumans."_

"Well, that just made our job ten times harder," Deke mutters. Seriously, it's like every time he wants this whole thing to be over, something always goes wrong. "How are we supposed to get to him now?"

There's a slightly awkward silence.

"We're working on it," says Coulson finally, after about two minutes of no one saying anything.

"Of course," Deke murmurs. "The holy grail of all the different ways to say 'I don't know.'"

Yeah. This was going fine.

* * *

**one month later**

* * *

"I can't believe it," Daisy says softly. 

"Believe what?"

"We've been here for three months, and we're still nowhere."

Deke murmurs in assent. He's currently slumped over the table, the side of his head resting on the jacket he's using as a pillow to keep on the desk. He seems deep in thought, and it's one of those moments that makes Daisy realize that he's much smarter than he usually seems. "Daisy?" he asks. "Do you trust me?"

She has no idea how to answer that question. _Trust means everything for us,_ Ward had said to her, a million lifetimes ago. _It's not something you just throw around like a ball, not something you give away like a present. This is you putting your life, everything you are, into the hands of someone else._

"I don't trust anyone," she answers.

"Not even Coulson and May and the others? It's okay if you wanna say you don't trust me. I don't expect you to, Daisy."

"Okay—yeah," she admits, readjusting her head on the pillow. "But I want to, Deke, if that counts."

There's something like regret on his face, she thinks. But in the dark, it's hard to really tell what his expression is. "I think I'm going to go to sleep now," he says softly.

"Me, too," she replies, but she doesn't. There's something weighing him down, some thought, some plan. Perhaps she's underestimated the depth of how much pain he experienced at the hands of the Kree. After all, this wasn't some regular superhero comic—losses would always stick with you. Especially the loss of a parent—Daisy would know a little something about that.

The following morning, everyone is quiet and tense. It is simply one of those days, where the air feels charged with dread.

"People are getting restless," May informs them. "Violent, even."

"Happens from time to time," Deke says. "There's a buildup, and then it goes back down. Small stirrings of rebellion, but the Kree always eliminate it in the end." He glances at Daisy, and she feels frozen whenever she looks at him, caught in the small space of mutual understanding and friendship that they've built up over the months. But then he looks away, and the moment dissolves. 

"We'll try to stay out of trouble," Simmons says, getting to her feet. "As should you."

With that, they part ways.

Over the next month or so, Daisy pushes Deke away. She's always been good at finding faults in people, and Deke is no different—he is too childish, too impractical at times, too careless, and too flippant despite the current situation.

She knows that there's a large possibility that someone isn't going to walk away from this. And in case it's him, she has to be ready.

So Daisy gets rude and snappish, and their hushed conversations at night fade out of existence. But he doesn't change because of the way she treats him—and perhaps she would've admired that. But now that listing all the cons of him daily, she nearly forgets that she ever even liked him at all.

* * *

Four months after they reach the Lighthouse, there's a massive problem.

Fitz is barely even able to spit it out, something about how someone attacked someone else at the Market—a man had gotten stabbed, and Simmons had barely been able to save him.

And because of that—she got taken to Kasius.

"They're going to kill her," Fitz says shakily, grabbing his hair. "Dear god, we have to—"

"They won't," Deke says, ignoring the sharp look Daisy throws her way. He doesn't know what's going on with her lately, but he doesn't even care anymore. "They obviously have some use for her if they didn't hurt her right then and there. Looks like they need a doctor of some sort."

"How the _hell_ are we going to get to her, then?" Fitz pushes, looking up at Deke. "We are no closer to figuring out how to reach Kasius than we were four months ago."

Deke considers his options, carefully, quietly. "Oh, I don't know. I'm not the agent here," he says flippantly, trying to mask his thoughts.

He has an idea—dangerous, and it will most definitely shatter any semblance of trust he has with the team.

"God, sometimes I wonder why we even brought you along," Fitz grumbles.

"Me, too," he replies, avoiding Daisy's eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a Kree walking around the dining area, and Deke swallows.

It can't be that easy. He has to think about how he's going to do this.

"I'm not hungry," he announces, getting up. "I'm going back to our room," Deke informs Daisy, barely looking at her. She seems simultaneously pleased and disappointed, as if she was hoping that he'd get yelled at a bit more. Deke leaves without another word, heading in the general direction of their sector.

Luckily, there's a Kree patrolling the halls near their room. Ignoring the small voice in the back of his brain screaming at him to run, Deke approaches him, and begins to speak.

* * *

That night, Daisy catches Deke bouncing his leg nervously as he sits in his chair. 

"What's up with you, Deke?"

He looks caught off guard as he turns his head to her, running a hand through his hair. "Nothing, Daisy. Just go to sleep."

She swallows, before gathering the courage to speak. "Does it still hurt? Being here?"

Deke blinks. "Of course it does. How could it not?"

"You seem like you don't give a shit," she replies. "About most things."

"I do," he counters. "Give a shit about things. It's just easier to act like I don't. Makes me seem braver. You know I've always felt out of place with your whole—warrior hero band. I'm just some guy who never achieved anything overly special."

"You're one of the best pilots in the system."

"Sure, I guess. But I've never really done anything that counts."

Daisy notices that he keeps glancing at the door. She wants to ask him what he's so nervous about, and frankly, his restlessness is starting to irritate her a little bit.

She supposes that's one thing she can be happy about—that if she tries, she can find anyone annoying. Maybe that makes her a mean person, but it is coming in handy now.

The door slides open, revealing two Kree. Her heart starts to pound—why would they be here?

"We've received information that you are not who you say you are," one of the Kree says. "There is no Eleanor Chen on this station. You are Daisy Johnson. Or should I say—Quake?"

Her heart drops to the floor, lips parting. Daisy's mind is racing, overflowing with questions. How did they know? How long have they known? 

What's going to happen to her now?

One look at Deke says it all.

"I'm sorry," he breathes.

She raises her hand and quakes them out of the room and moves to run, but they recover quickly and tackle her to the ground. Something sharp goes into her neck, and she screams in pain. Some part of her wants to call out to Deke, but she doesn't. She tries to quake the Kree away from her, but nothing happens.

_They took away my powers._

Her consciousness is draining, and she lets her head fall to the side, trying to look up to Deke. But he's too tall, and his face is blurring, and the world dissolves into darkness.

* * *

**one month later**

* * *

"I think you're ready to work with our doctor now," Kasius says, looking positively excited. Daisy hates the sight of his stupid blue face, the way he regards her as if she's a particularly interesting delicacy. 

That word gets stuck in her brain— _doctor._

Could it be—

"You've done well here today, Daisy," Kasius continues. The blue woman behind him, Sinara, shoots Daisy a dirty look. Sinara is the right hand, quite possibly the only thing Kasius actually cares about. Daisy hates her quite as much as Sinara hates her, but she wouldn't risk trying to fight her without her own powers. She's seen Sinara cut people into ribbons with a wave of her hand and the two small metal spheres she always carries around. 

Kasius reaches for the Inhibitor at her neck, the device that he controls, that acts as a switch for her powers. It's switched on right now, taking away her powers—the case is rarely different. In the past month, they've taken about a bucket of her blood, switching off the Inhibitor periodically to understand her ability. But she's tried to fight the Kree scientists every single time—and she's lost every single time. She's been punished, shut in dark rooms with absolutely nothing, left to think about anything and everything, and to fall prey to her own hallucinations.

Someone's dragging her out of the dark room now—strong arms, but relatively slim. Sinara, she thinks, and she wishes she could douse herself in soap water and never come out. Sudden, blazing light pierces her eyelids, and when she opens her eyes, she sees the familiar and pristine living room type area, walls with gold lines and long couches upholstered in white linen. Sinara drops her onto the cold tiled floor, knowing that Daisy's too weak to move.

Another set of arms reach for her—with a softer touch, with familiar grace.

"Oh, Daisy," a quiet female voice says, and she nearly sobs with relief. 

"Simmons," she chokes out. "Are you... are you okay?"

"I'm alright, Daisy," Simmons breathes. "Come on, let's get you up."

Simmons pulls her up so that she's sitting on the couch. "Act like you don't know me," she warns in Daisy's ear as she leans over her to check the wristband on her hand—not the Lighthouse issued one, but the one Kasius had put on her to monitor vitals. "So you must be our newest Inhuman," Simmons says in a louder, more normal voice as she leans away. "Right?"

"Yeah," Daisy replies. She thinks of Deke for the first time in weeks, and she hopes he got himself thrown out of an airlock. 

"And what are your abilities?" Simmons continues in this tone of purely clinical curiosity. Daisy thinks back to the time when Simmons was a horrible liar, and almost wants to smile. "I control the vibrations of everything around me. I can—make earthquakes, in a sense. A form of telekinesis."

"Interesting," Simmons replies, and she really does sound interested, as if she hasn't heard about this before. "I would ask you to show me, but it appears you haven't been cooperating with the others. It's a shame, but I'm sure I'll get to see it some other time." She writes something down in a notebook. "You will be trained to fight other Inhumans," she informs Daisy. "There are many people in the galaxy that would like to have you as their champion. I am quite sure you will need to be adequately prepared."

Daisy wants to throw up. Or die. Or both.

"You have a visitor," she hears Sinara say softly, and it occurs to Daisy that it's the first time she's heard the woman speak. She thinks Sinara is addressing her, but she's actually addressing Kasius, who has also been standing there the whole time. "Your informant."

"Yes," Kasius says quietly. "Bring him in."

Daisy's not sure what she's expecting, but it's not the person who actually walks through the door. Her hands ball into fists, and Simmons reaches for her arm, squeezing tightly. A warning.

"I'm glad you're extending your hospitality to me," Deke Shaw says, his voice drifting over the room, grating against Daisy's ears. If she ever gets out of this, she'll kill him. And she's going to make it hurt.

Her heart lurches at the thought that she ever wanted to trust him.

"Of course," Kasius replies in honeyed tones. "After all, you did supply me with the most powerful Inhuman in the entire system. Perhaps the entire galaxy. Mr. Shaw, did you know that she once leveled an entire moon?"

Her heart twists at the mention of what she did under HIVE's control. "No, sir," Deke replies.

"It was quite a sight. I remember seeing it from afar—one of Saturn's moons, reduced to rubble. Left to join the rings. She could tear Earth apart, if she tried. And she will. One day."

There's a pause. "I'm sure she will," Deke says finally. "She must be really, really powerful."

"That she is. Are you sure you would not like to stay and dine with us today? You have earned my trust."

Out of the corner of her eye, Daisy sees Simmons look up. Daisy herself has not looked at Deke this entire time, and she doesn't plan to.

"I'm sorry to say that I can't," Deke replies, his voice impassive. "I do have other duties on this station, after all."

"Of course," Kasius murmurs. "But I am sure you will be here one day."

"Absolutely."

"Well, I had called you here to dine with us, but it seems you will not be staying. So I shall see you another time."

"Of course, sir."

Deke is escorted out, Daisy thinks, and Simmons finally looks at Daisy. "I've gotten what I need for now," she announces to Kasius, though she does not look away. "Take her back. And I'm sure she will cooperate now."

It's a subtle warning. Daisy swallows. She wants to talk to Simmons, but she's already gone by the time she can even gather the physical strength to open her mouth.

* * *

"We're getting there," Deke tells the others. "But just me. I'm still working on getting you guys in there."

"The point isn't to just get in and start shooting, you know," Coulson says. "Kasius is the final target."

"Maybe we should bring Mack and Elena back in," Fitz says, lacing his fingers together. Deke buries his face in his hands.

"What's up with you?" May asks. 

"It's—never mind," Deke mutters, moving his hands away and leaning back. "Nothing."

Coulson sighs. "I know you feel guilty."

"You should," May adds. "You did a horrible thing."

"Thank you, May," Coulson mutters, glancing sideways at her. "Look—what she's trying to say is that—your decision may have been smart, but you did a lot of things wrong. You should have consulted us before. And we should've agreed to it. We are a team."

"You never would have agreed," Deke counters, staring at the table. "All of you love Daisy too much. Besides, I'm not in this team. You guys have been—kind to me, mostly. But it's been made pretty clear that I'm not part of this team. Not just by—not just by you guys. I'm not like you, okay? I don't have high stamina or endurance or a 200 IQ or something. I'm not a scary badass, either."

"You are part of this team," May hisses, and he's taken aback by her aggressive tone. "Whether any of us like it or not."

He sighs. "I'm sorry," he says finally. "I wanted to act fast. I know I said that they wouldn't hurt Simmons, and I was right—but I just know that the Kree will eventually run out of excuses to use her. They've never liked dealing with humans, even the ones they respect. Getting Daisy to her was the first step, and it would win me some favor with Kasius. And I know you guys think it's a good plan. I just wasn't sure if you could make that call."

"You can't assume control and make the tough choices for us, Deke!" Coulson chides. 

"Then tell me—if we discussed this together, do you think we would have made _any_ progress in the past month?"

Coulson leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Maybe, maybe not. But it's not your place to make those type of decisions. Do you understand?"

"Yes," he mumbles. "I'm going to get them out of there, okay? But we have to smart about it. And we have to be fast enough that no one gets suspicious. No one being Kasius, I mean."

"We can figure it out," Fitz says, his voice steady now. "Deke—"

"I know," he murmurs. "I'm sorry, Coulson. I really am."

To his immense surprise, it's May who reaches out to touch his arm. "We aren't the ones who you owe your apology to, Deke. But we know why you did it."

"What if I did something? What if I doomed them both?" he asks. "It seems smart, but it puts her—both of them in such horrible danger."

"You're right, and we're going to take turns beating your ass for it," May confirms. "But we don't have time for that now. All we can hope is that we can pull this off."

"Start working on ideas," Fitz says to Deke. "And we will figure out the rest."

* * *

**one month later**

* * *

"Good, good," Kasius murmurs. "We'll have you fighting, soon." 

There's a dull blow of pain in her neck as he switches her Inhibitor on again, taking away her powers and thus concluding her training session. Simmons is waiting in the corner, and she gives Daisy's arm a squeeze as she walks by. 

"They're coming back for us," Simmons murmurs softly. Daisy doesn't have time to ask her what she means.

* * *

"You have one hour to set up the explosives," Deke explains to Mack and Elena, who had snuck onto the ship two weeks prior. "The hour after that is getting all of them in one place. The explosion will have caused a diversion, and I'm going to go in there and get Daisy while Fitz gets Simmons. And then May and Coulson are gonna kill Kasius. Deal?"

"Deal," Elena says. "Are you ready?"

"No," Deke says honestly. 

"This is our mission," May says sharply. "You have to be ready whether you want to be or not."

Wow. That woman always knows what to say, doesn't she?

"Let's go," Fitz says sharply, and Deke follows him further into the Lighthouse station.

* * *

Daisy's training the following day is cut short. 

She almost doesn't notice the dull rumble in the training arena, and for a moment she thinks it might be her own powers. But this is something different, something she cannot entirely feel. A detached occurrence.

She hears Sinara and Kasius talking in quiet voices, but she catches a small word—explosion.

Kasius glances back at Daisy, and Daisy looks at Simmons.

Except, Simmons is not in her usual spot.

"Lock her up," Kasius says sharply. He holds up the remote to the Inhibitor, but it flies out of his hand, disassembling itself as it hurtles away. She quakes Kasius into the wall, and he runs towards her, but Sinara holds him back. "Let me," she says, her voice soft. "Go deal with the others."

Kasius spares Daisy one last venomous look as he runs—meanwhile, Sinara advances, the two metal spheres orbiting each other above the palm of her hand. They're flying towards Daisy and she's so _exhausted,_ but she fights. She screams as loud as she can, watches as the spheres crumple and explode into shrapnel. She tries to send the shrapnel into Sinara, but she waves it away lazily, barely fazed by Daisy's attack. She keeps walking forward.

"Okay, you crazy blue bitch," Daisy mumbles. "Bring it."

She leaps forward and tries to punch her, but she steps back, looking slightly annoyed now. Sinara punches Daisy in the gut and then the jaw, and Daisy stumbles backwards. She quakes Sinara into the nearest wall, but it was evidently the wrong thing to do—she lands near a pile of long and pointed staffs, and grabs two. Sinara leaps to her feet and lunges, aiming the staff at Daisy. She tries to push her away with her power, but Sinara fights against it.

_Okay. Let her come._

Daisy lowers her arms and grabs one of the staffs as Sinara tries to attack again, wrenching it out of their grip. Now they both have a weapon, and Daisy fully intends on using it.

That plan, however, is much easier said than done. Sinara is an exceptional fighter, and Daisy—she's too tired. She's been pushed to the edge, broken and put back together too many times in the last two months. She's not as powerful as she used to be, and within about fifteen minutes of nonstop combat, her movements are getting sluggish, and there's blood all over her face and arms.

And Sinara? She doesn't even have a single cut.

It occurs to Daisy that she's going to die.

 _I am going to die on my feet,_ she chants fervently to herself. _I am going to die on my feet, I'm going to die standing, I'm—_

A horrible, excruciating pain explodes in her gut, and she can feel her shirt getting wet. She's on her knees now, trying to hold all the blood in her body, but it trickles through her fingers. Sinara towers over her, smiling as she goes to finish her off—

She freezes, and Daisy, in her blurred vision, sees the tip of another staff poking out from the space just above Sinara's heart.

"I never liked you anyway," Deke says from behind her, his hair messy and a cut along his cheekbone. He yanks his own staff out of her and shoves her body away.

"Deke," Daisy chokes out, and there's anger building inside of her, forming a lump in her throat. "I'm—I'll _kill you—"_

He drops to his knees, reaching out to put one hand behind her head and one behind her back. "You're going to be okay," he promises softly. "You are gonna live, Daisy. I promise."

"I hate you," she tells him, tears and blood pouring down her cheeks. 

"I know," he replies, brushing his thumb across her cheek. "Jemma's going to fix you, okay? You're going to be okay, I swear."

"You left me. You left me—here—alone."

"I came back, didn't I?" Deke says softly, and she's unconscious before she can answer.

* * *

Daisy's heavy. Deke's tired, and not exactly in the best position to carry her across the station after having to fight all of those Kree guards (fighting as in stabbing two and basically running away from the rest) but he has to keep going. He deposits her in their room, where Simmons and Fitz are waiting. 

"Help her," Deke chokes out. "I'm going to help the others."

"I don't have the tools!" Simmons protests.

"I'll get them," Fitz replies urgently, kissing her hard on the mouth before running out of the room.

"Deke, be careful," Simmons murmurs as Deke himself goes to leave the room. All of the Lighthouse civilians have gone into the lockdown sector, so he runs through deserted halls, taking the stairs down to the lowest levels of the station, where Kasius's place is. 

He runs and he runs, past the living area and past Sinara's body.

 _I killed her,_ he thinks, but the thought seems to be coming from very far away.

It doesn't take him too long to find May, Coulson, Mack, and Elena facing Kasius.

It's odd to him. How much he's lost within two hours. Sinara, and his entire guard.

And he's about to lose this station, too.

He doesn't hear what happens next. His mind only starts working again once the battle starts.

* * *

There are still a few Kree warriors left, and they've split the group up. Deke keeps running, holding a gun in one hand. He runs flat into someone as he turns his head to look back, and he tackles the other person, holding the gun to his head.

"Woah, woah, woah, wait—" Flint says, coughing. "Get off of me."

Deke gets to his feet and pulls Flint up, fuming. "What the hell are you doing here?" he exclaims.

"I know you and the others are leading the revolution against the Kree and I want to help," he says stubbornly. "I got out of the lockdown sector before the doors."

"It's too dangerous for you!" Deke protests. "You're just a kid, Flint. You can't fight the freakin' Kree."

"I can try!"

Deke hears the Kree coming and he raises his gun, the hallway filled with the cacophony of gunshots. He gets three of the Kree in the head, and he turns back to Flint.

But whatever Deke was going to say dies in his throat. The kid's leaning against the wall, his eyes open and glassy, blood pooling on the floor.

He'd stay there for hours, maybe, rooted to the floor and unable to remember what to do or what to say. He is watching is mother die all over again, watching his dad die all over again. 

Deke can't stay. He has to keep running. He has to leave him.

He turns on his heel and he keeps on trying to find the others. If he looks back now, he's not going to make it.

He finds them—and they're in trouble. And for some reason, Daisy's there, holding onto Simmons's shoulder—they're trying to get to their ship. Kasius is coming, and his fingers are squeezing the triggers of two guns—

He lunges, slamming his body into Coulson and pushing him away from the other bullet, and he lands in front of Simmons and Daisy, seconds before his whole body is jolted by impact. 

It's like a dull push in his gut at first, but then the feeling gets warmer—the warmth spirals to every part of his body, steadily getting hotter.

_He's dead. He's so dead._

_"KASIUS IS DEAD, LET'S GO!"_ May yells to the others, and arms come around him, his name being murmured into his hair.

"Daisy," Deke says.

"Stay awake, Deke," Simmons murmurs. Someone is pulling him, and he feels like someone set him on fire. He tries to speak, but blood trickles out of his mouth. He thinks he bit his lip too hard.

"We're staying," he hears Mack say. "Elena and I. You need to get back to a SHIELD base."

Deke can't see anything, or maybe he's just keeping his eyes closed.

A couple of minutes later, someone puts him down on a cold metal floor. "Daisy," he says again, opening his eyes. 

"Why the hell did you do that?" she snaps. "Why would you—"

"I was trying to—" he starts to say indignantly, but he's coughing up blood, and she grabs his arm, murmuring his name. 

"Why?" she asks again, her voice soft.

"I didn't do it just for you," he says quietly, and it's not something someone says to a person they love—but as the world dissolves into a cacophony of noises and a blur of colors, heading towards blissful silence and darkness, Daisy's body relaxes against his, and he knows that he said the right thing.

* * *

**three weeks later**

* * *

He doesn't open his eyes as soon as he wakes, so he can listen in on whatever conversation is going on. 

"—having difficulties, but Mack and Yo-Yo are handling it," he hears Coulson say softly to the person in the room. "How is he?"

"Fine." It's Daisy.

"He's woken up several times. You guys haven't spoken?"

"He's delirious every time. But maybe next time will be different."

Deke waits a couple of minutes after Coulson leaves to open his eyes. He turns his head to see Daisy watching him. "I'm sorry," he croaks out.

She nods. "I know. They explained."

"I never—I should've told you."

"I know."

He swallows. "The kid. Flint. He's dead." He tries to explain what happened, and he's crying by the end of it.

Daisy leans forward. "Do you remember, a long time ago, when you looked at all the badges on my wall and told me it wasn't my fault? You have to remember that, Deke. It wasn't your fault."

She takes his hand, and he falls asleep again.

* * *

**some time later**

* * *

All things considered, Earth will always be her favorite place.

They're back at the main Lighthouse base, and she's sitting alone. Distantly, she can hear music and laughter.

She thinks about Deke. He'd recovered pretty quickly ever since he received proper treatment at one of the SHIELD bases around Jupiter, and the two of them? Well, they've spoken, but not much.

Daisy's long since forgiven him, but she doesn't know if he's forgiven himself.

The door of the office like room opens, and Deke is there. He looks a bit more like himself again—smoother jaw, just a little more hair. His cheeks are still hollow and his eyes aren't as bright, but it's him.

"Hi," she says.

"Hey. Can I sit here?"

"Yeah," she says, moving over on the desk so he can sit on it beside her. "Don't wanna be at the party?"

He smiles slightly. "There's somewhere else I'd rather be."

"What, with me?" she says with a small laugh."

He shrugs. "I guess. Daisy, I—" Deke trails off, swallowing. "I'm so sorry. About everything. I'm—"

"Deke," she breathes. "I forgive you, okay? But that's not what matters."

He looks down. "I feel like I failed my mom. Letting Flint die like that."

Impulsively, she takes his hand. "There's always going to be losses, Deke. You can't escape that. But what matters is that you still have someone left. What matters is that you have something to come back to."

He looks up at her, biting his lip. 

"None of us can be afraid of that now," she says softly. "You can't destroy yourself because of loss. Or because of guilt. I can't be too afraid to use my powers now. And I can't be afraid to love."

"Daisy," he says, simply for the pleasure of saying her name, and then they collide. He parts her lips with his own and he kisses her deeply, with everything that he has.

They surface for air, and Daisy cups his cheek. "I thought you were going to die."

He smiles. "Me, too. But I didn't."

"I love you," she wants to tell him, but she keeps it to herself. For now. Instead she slides a hand into his hair and pulls his face to hers, kissing him again and again. There's more to talk about, and they both know it. But her back is against the surface of the desk and Deke is smiling against her mouth, and she knows they'll have time for those conversations later.

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this is the deke and daisy i imagine here (deke in the first have of the fic)
> 
> and then just kinda imagine deke with his s7 hair for the couple of months in the lighthouse and then back to the image at the end sorta


End file.
